Kodak Emerges From Bankruptcy, Cancels Common Stock

Written by: Joe Deaux09/03/13 - 3:40 PM EDT

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Eastman Kodak announced Tuesday that it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a reorganized company.

The former iconic filmmaker said it cancelled all previous outstanding shares of common stock and issued new common stock to rights offerings participants and expects to issue common stock to unsecured creditors.

The new Kodak emerges as a commercial printing company, which includes operations in packaging, functional printing -- such as touch screens -- and other services.

Kodak forecasts 2013 revenue to be around $2.5 billion, a drop from the previous year, according to a July 15 presentation to lenders. Still, Kodak may finally be in a position to grow after decades of decline.

By 2017, the company expects annual revenue growth of over 6%, buoyed by 20% compound annual growth from its Digital Printing & Enterprise business. The company's margins are forecast to nearly triple to 15.4% in that time horizon.

In bankruptcy, trustees of the Kodak Pension Plan acquired the company's more than century-old consumer imaging and document-imaging businesses, valued at $650 million.

"We have been revitalized by our transformation and restructured to become a formidable competitor -- leaner, with a strong capital structure, a healthy balance sheet, and the industry's best technology," Antonio Perez, Kodak chief executive, said in a statement.

A judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York on Aug. 20 approved Kodak's bankruptcy plan, and said it was "likely to be successful."